Sierra’s POV
A low, guttural growl rippled through the air, deep and primal. It wasn’t Jayden. It wasn’t any of us.
It came from the shadows.
Jayden stepped in front of me instinctively, his stance rigid, his body wound tight like a spring ready to snap. Jason flanked my side, his breathing steady but alert. My mother’s silver eyes glowed in the darkness, her fingers twitching at her sides.
Then, out of the trees, they stepped forward.
Not wolves.
Something else.
Their bodies were humanoid but twisted, their limbs too long, their eyes hollow pits of blackness. Their skin, if it could even be called that, shimmered like dark mist, shifting and pulsing unnaturally.
The air turned thick. Heavy. A wave of nausea rolled over me.
“What the hell are those?” Jason muttered.
“Shadowborn,”
